Jan

8

Well look at that.

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The word progress meter has jumped to 36k words. You know what that means? I finished Chapter 15 of TMA. I wrote just over 1200 new words today. I’m pretty sure most of them are good, but we’ll have to wait and see what my writing group has to say.

Getting this chapter done is a huge victory to me. It wasn’t a difficult one to write, but the challenge was to write at all. My kids were off school from December 19th to January 5th, when they’re home and awake, it’s impossible for me to do any kind of writing. Add to that the fact we were either traveling or recovering from traveling for about a third of that time, and that I was sick another third, there wasn’t really a lot of time for me to write.

I know that the experts say that it doesn’t matter how you feel, you should just write through it all. It’s a fine thing to say, but sometimes, it just doesn’t work. Sometimes you simply can’t write. It’s really hard to concentrate when the two saltine crackers you ate for breakfast want to leave the way they came in. So, I did what I could. I rested. I read. I did my best to clear my head of all the crap lodged in there. Oh, I did sit down and try to write each and every one of the days I was home, but I did my best not to punish myself for failing. Guilt is a good motivator, but doesn’t always give a positive result.

Chapter 15′s done and, as they say in the movies, in the can. Now there’s only one thing left to figure out: What happens in Chapter 16? :)

Jan

23

And so it goes.

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I succeeded in writing a whole 40 words for Chapter 11 before the end of the day yesterday. Nowhere near as much as I would have liked, but yesterday was rather busy. Did some major house cleaning (getting rid of clutter and putting things away), four loads of laundry, and I critted a four chapter chunk of a WIP (work in progress, if you’re not familiar with writers’ lingo) for my writing group. It was actually a five chapter file, but I’d already gone over the first chapter so I skipped it this time.

While only getting 40 words of Chapter 11 done would generally be disappointing, it wasn’t really. I was having a hard time figuring out what Alex’s reaction would be to the revelations that ended Chapter 10. I think I got it right, but I’m sure my group members will let me know if I haven’t. They’re good with that. :) I hope to get a bunch more written today, so I can be finished the chapter by Friday.

Work on the super secret project continues slowly, mainly because I’m having a crisis. I’m now wondering if I’ve chosen the right direction, and whether or not I should change things before I get too much further. Decisions or decisions.